MPAA’s plans for Canada
p2p news / p2pnet: With China nicely under control, MPAA boss Dan ‘Jedi’ Glickman is turning his jaundiced eye on Canada.
Or as Backstage sums it up, "Canadian broadcasters and independent producers were urged Thursday to find an equitable way to share and monetize rights for emerging digital content or risk being crushed under the heel of U.S. media giants.
"Richard Stursberg, executive vp English television at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., told the Canadian Film and Television Production Assn. conference here that U.S. networks increasingly delivering digital content directly to the Internet, cell phones and iPods threatened to ‘disintermediate’ Canadian private broadcasters whose business model has traditionally depended on renting and airing popular U.S. network series to drive their ratings and advertising revenue."
Then, "On a different tack on the future of content delivery and distribution," he “urged” Canada to introduce anti-camcording laws similar to those which exist in the US. There, kids with camcorders can be jailed.
"I am, frankly, alarmed at the trend I am seeing in Canada," he told delegates.
It’s not illegal in Canada, "to camcord in domestic cinemas," says Backstage. "At present, exhibitors can only request the names and addresses of camcorders they catch, and have the police evict them for trespassing."
But for Glickman, who’s on warm and intimate terms with the people who keep China firmly in line with Hollywood dictates, Canada is small potatoes and already, "he’s working with MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) representatives in Canada, and provincial and federal politicians, to bring in anti-camcording laws similar to what has worked in New York state, for example".
Also See:
nicely under control – No China worries for Hollywood, February 16, 2006
Backstage – Canadian Corp. Urges Rights Initiative February 17, 2006
February 19th, 2006 at 11:04 am
“Canada is small potatoes”
Maybe but the samll potato is next door and Americans may start to get some right, liberal ideas about freedom in communications (freedom of speech). Too close for comfort and a huge threat, if you ask me.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
February 20th, 2006 at 6:31 am
It’s true. We Canadians are just so darned polite that we simply wouldn’t cam a film at the cinema. We already have laws regulating tactless behaviour, and don’t need any more.
Putting people in jail for using a camcorder? Oh please.
Steve in Ottawa
February 21st, 2006 at 7:16 am
Evicted for trespassing? From a theatre that they paid for the ticket? I may not agree with camcordering a movie, but that’s a bullshit excuse for penalizing someone for a non-law. The MPAA & RIAA are dinosaurs run by old dudes that are out of touch with 2006. Time for extinction. Drop dead.